The practice mini game can be a bit of a challenge for those with no real memory. I get lost after 5 notes even when I write them down so needless to say my guys steadily decline in abilities after a certain point in the game. Id suggest 3 short ones and one long one....maybe 'extra credit' when we get the long ones right.

On thing that would be helpful is what I'd call a 'snap shot' feature. This would allow the player to click a button on the HUD that would capture and summarize key elements about the band and save it for future reference. Kind of like a HALL OF FAME, but this could be done at any time (and multiple times). For me, I would like to capture the band history so I can look back with fond memories on that point 2.5 years into the band history when I had my best lineup before my lead guitarist bolted, followed a few months later by the bassist. The new guys are good, but they are not the same...hehe.

Band namePicture of band members (like whats on the main HUD)Their personalities and items they ownList my albums and album stats (records sold and net revenue)Golden Oldies by name...i love that..heheMoney, Fame and all those stats listed on the right of the HUD.

I suppose this is going to be kind of a long post and I imagine some of it has been suggested before so ignore any redundancies. I've tried to only list things that I could see easily integrated and, in some cases, suggested ways of approaching it. Anyway, here's what I'd like to see:

GENERAL "BUGS"I've noticed when you change your album name it stays with the first randomly generated name after the album is created. This may just be my copy.

I've noticed the personality 'lazy' doesn't show up in the game. I don't know whether it actually has an effect.

VERY GENERAL IMPROVEMENTAn option for a longer game where success occurs less rapidly.

GENERAL IMPROVEMENTS1) I'd like to see the band and character name's on the main screen, maybe overlayed across a bitmap that the player chooses to add more flavor. So, at the start of the game, they'd choose a 'Punk' or 'Metal' styled bitmap to have their band/character name overlayed across. Of course, players should be able to add their own easily.

2) Instead of having albums listed as possessions, I'd like to have an entirely separate "Discography" screen that lists month/year of release, record label, an out-of-5 star rating based on the quality (instead of a quality meter), billboard sales rank (basically list this instead of the actual units sold). Also, you could have a star next to 'classic' tracks to denote the hit singles.

3) To add another element of difficulty and surprise, I'd like an option to not have personality traits listed on the auditionee screen. In fact, I think this would just be a good feature in general, requiring players to rely more on the advice of the other bandmembers during audition.

4) When modding, the ability to tie certain song elements to roles in the band. For example, if I had a 'Synth' element, I couldn't actually use it unless I had a keyboard player as a member of the band. Also, the ability to tie song elements to assets, so, I would have to have a 'horn section' in my employ to use a 'Horn Riff' element or a grand piano to use a 'Piano Solo' element. This could also give you a simpler way of giving players the option of more band members/instrument types with distinct benefits.

5) Give each song element a 'genre value' so when you look at the song info, the two most heavily used 'genre values' get listed as the genre of a song. Then, when you make an album, the game looks at these 'top two' genres for each song and lists the top two genres from those as the genre of the album. So, for example, I write a song with 8 elements: 3 of them are classified as 'punk', 2 are classified as 'new wave', 2 are classified as 'jazz', and 1 is classified as 'funk'. Now, when the song is created, the game calculates the most heavily used genres: (in this case, it picks punk [3 elements classified as 'punk'] and randomly chooses either new wave or jazz [since both have 2 elements]), these would then be listed as the genres of the song. Then, when an album is made, it looks at the two genre values for each song, then chooses the top two and lists them as the album's genres on the aforementioned discography screen. It could also be set up so fans generally reward bands that stick with the same couple of genres. So if you go from punk-metal to folk-electronica, your album sales will take a hit as you alienate some of your fan base. This would also partially model the creative/commercial tension that songwriters face. For example, the player character just *KNOWS* that reggae trumpet line is an inspired bit of songwriting but, of course, his metal-loving fans would absolutely hate it.

6) More variability in song quality. Even the most talented/inspired bands churn out a crappy song once in a while.

7) More 'fame' landmarks... you transition from signed band to openers to rock stars to legends.

MORE PERSONALITY TRAITS1) Wealthy (adds to 'Unemployment Benefit')2) Addict (decreases 'Unemployment Benefit')3) Content (doesn't make many demands)4) Greedy (motivation lowers drastically when sponsorship deals are turned down or band does charity gigs)5) Ethical (motivation lowers drastically when sponsorship deals are accepted or charity gigs are turned down)6) Jealous (becomes 'Disruptive' only if there's a [separate] Photogenic or Charismatic character in the band)7) Impressionable (easily influenced, becomes 'Destructive' if there's another Destructive character in the band)8 ) Spiritual (will want to 'save' wayward bandmates, becomes 'Disruptive' only if there's a [separate] Greedy or Addict character in the band)9) Controlling (wants to control the creative process, becomes 'Disruptive' if there's a [separate] Imaginative character in the band)10) Dull (lowers overall interview effectiveness)11) Weird (a strange fellow with weird habits, no effect by itself alone but...)12) Straight-Laced (likes everything neat and orderly, becomes 'Disruptive' if there's a Weird or Destructive character in the band)13) Anxious (becomes stressed more easily)14) Family Man (tends to get distracted from the band a lot, there's a chance he won't show up to rehearsals and gigs)15) Trendy (rules the local club scene, shows up in fashion magazines, helps increase fame)16) Traditionalist (just wants to cover his favorite band, lowers inspiration)

MORE RANDOM EVENTS1) Equipment Theft (lose possession)2) Stalker (raise stress of one character)3) Corrupt Manager (money stolen)4) Greatest Hits Album (requires at least four albums to occur, but gives you a certain amount of money based on your total number of classics so far)5) Disruptive Spouse (adds 'Disruptive' to one character, we have to model Yoko!)6) Addiction Develops (one character receives the 'Addiction' personality listed above)7) Solo Career (after a certain amount of fame has been achieved, egotistical band members may just leave)8 ) Scandal ("We're bigger than Jesus" or some such, fame drops)9) Personal Revelation (the player has some moment of self-discovery and a huge boost in inspiration)10) Film Role (small boost in fame)11) Religious Experience (a character receives the 'Spiritual' personality listed above)12) Tragic Death (very rare event - having a chance to happen maybe only once every eight games or so, but you lose a band member and everyone's motivation drops - on the upside, your fame increases and you get a huge boost in inspiration)13) Big Argument (the band has a random argument about something stupid that reveals a lot of previously unseen tensions, everyone's motivation drops)14) Side Project (a band member is involved in a successful side project, inspiration and fame increases)

LABEL OVERHAUL1) Ditch the option of self-releasing albums, make getting/staying signed a far more important element of the game.

2) If you're not signed to a label, gigs and rehearsals produce more stress.

3) 'Tour CDs' are added to merch you sell at concerts to model album sales independent of the label.

4) Label contracts involve releasing a certain number of albums.

5) Have a difference between "low pressure" and "high pressure" labels with labels adding a gradually increasing level of stress to band members each month you haven't released a full length album.

6) Each label sets a 'Fame' goal and if you don't reach it within a certain amount of time, they'll drop you... resulting in a drop in fame and a drop in motivation across the board.

ADDITIONAL FEATURES1) World Tour (I know this has already been suggested, but this could basically take up 3 months of game time, add loads of money/fame but have a variable effect ranging from 'success' to 'disastrous' with the latter putting the band in dire straights with players potentially leaving).

2) Year-End Top Ten List (at the year-end screen, have a top ten list for that year with a chance of the band's album showing up being proportional to its quality (minimum four stars). The band receives an increase in fame if an album shows up and a big boost if it's number one. There would also be a text file in the 'simulation' folder where users could input the names of the other bands/albums that show up along with the player's or, better yet, a separate folder for each year to prevent the same album showing up more than once).

3) EPs (2 song albums that provide a very small funding/fame boost but don't count towards your label contract; EPs listed in separate section of aforementioned discography and don't have a chance of showing up on the top ten list but the songs you use on the EP can't be used on an LP later).

4) Professional Talent (the option for auditionees with a lot more beginning ability, this would obviously cost a lot of money and only be realistically available to established bands, professional talent would also have a high daily 'upkeep' cost to hammer home that they're not 'natural' members of the band)

5) As previously mentioned, a more detailed endgame screen and a ranked hall of fame section where you can see your prior band's discographies and fame/wealth ratings. Having it ranked would give more incentive to play again to beat prior attempts.

I'm sorry if this is overly repetitive, I haven't read the ENTIRE thread, but... I have to add my voice to those begging for some change on the practice/melodies game. I honestly find it almost impossible to do. Even when I write down the numbers, the notes often go far too quickly for me to even register what the number was, much less do so and write it down, and register the next. Between that, the relatively quick skill degradation rate, and the bandmembers complaining when their skills get too low, I'm about to tear my hair out!

Whether the chance would be an option to skip, an added difficulty-of-minigame slider, a general reduction in the difficulty, or someone I can hire to upkeep the musicians' skills, I honestly don't care. Maybe an option to bring in a teacher for a one-time lesson, for a price? Or even just having rehearsal give some kind of boost to skill levels?

On a much more general level, I'd love the option to track success over different time-frames. I know you can just keep playing past the 5 years (and I intend to!) but I do like the idea of having a longer range plan. And! It would be nice if we could add personality traits to the singer as well, and maybe choose their initial songwriting options.

Just a few thoughts. Other than that, I really adore this game. One might even say it's eaten my life. :)

Just picked up the game, and I've got a couple of comments. So far, it's enjoyable and I really like the ease of modding. That's always a good thing!

I think this is a Bug - In the song_elements.csv file, Basic Drums has a music type of "type" instead of MUSIC.

How about another member for the entourage - Motivational Speaker. This person can decrease the rate at which your motivation decreases, or increase the benefit of the motivation from good gigs or rehearsals.

When I am playing in Windowed mode (ie not in Full Screen) and have enough songs so that the screen is filled, I can't scroll past the bottom of the screen. I noticed that this was supposed to have been fixed in an earlier patch, but was that tested in Windowed mode? I am running version 1.16a.

I'd also like to see the "Hall of Fame," to compare how you do from one game to the next. Maybe even broken down by Most income, gigs, songs, classics, etc. in addition to a total score.

Something I was going to try adding in a mod was a "Legends of..." concert tour for each of the musical types. It would still unlock the same type of musical chords as the normal concerts, but would raise your inspiration more. These would be far less frequent and more expensive than the typical concerts. I was also going to try adding an even larger stadium (complete with new graphics) that would have about 10K seats.

1. Make the practice mini-game optional. It's kinda fun but it can also get frustrating. If the mini-game is turned of the musicians would still have to practice but progress would be based on motivation, happiness with the band, etc.

2. Have playing gigs and rehearsing count towards musicianship. Or at least prevent musicianship from degrading.

3. It looks like musicianship degrades at a constant rate. It sould degrade less quickly for more experienced musicians.

4. Once I sign a record deal I should make daily money off CD sales. A bunch when the CD is first released and declining until it is a nominal amount after a few months. Maybe have that replace the $2 per day each musician gets.

5. Making more music videos. The video should increase hype, improve album sales, etc.

6. Allow me to do something in addition to just singing. Maybe penalize that by making my musicianship harder to raise if I'm doing 2 things to balance the game. Or let me be just the guitar player and audition a lead singer (or guitarist/bassist/keyboardist who is a lead singer). And other permutations of musicians would be cool. 2 guitars. Or a percusionist. or 2 keyboard players.

7. Once I can afford a manager, publicist, tour bus, and assorted crew I should be able to go on tour. The hirelings would arrange the gigs, handle advertising, etc. but I still need to make sure there is enough merchandise, my bandmates are not stressed, etc.

8. Be able to change my avitar. Can I give her a new haircut, or new glasses, or dye her hair green?

9. Others have made good suggestions for having random events, bad PR, relationships, etc. If that stuff gets added we should be able to pick and choose which ones we want. A config screen where we turn these options on and off and dial them up or down within reasonable limits, rather than have to hack the config file and make guesses as to what the settings will do.

Have I mentioned I really like this game? I look forward to the next version.

Gustav_Wind wrote:5. Making more music videos. The video should increase hype, improve album sales, etc.

I can't believe I forgot to mention this! Only being able to make one video of each type was really bugging me.

Maybe each time you release a new CD, you can make a new video (one of each type?) Maybe even choose which of your songs you want to do a video for? Don't know if this is possible or not, but it would be nice to be able to do more than one video to get the hype boost...especially when you're playing in the larger venues and need the Hype boost!

6. Allow me to do something in addition to just singing. Maybe penalize that by making my musicianship harder to raise if I'm doing 2 things to balance the game. Or let me be just the guitar player and audition a lead singer (or guitarist/bassist/keyboardist who is a lead singer). And other permutations of musicians would be cool. 2 guitars. Or a percusionist. or 2 keyboard players.

I thought this right away when I played the game. Or I'd at least like to be able to choose what insturment my character plays instead only being able to sing. It doesn't have to be that my character sings AND plays an instrument. I'd just like a choice, since in real life I play guitar and I'd just like to have my character play guitar instead of being lead singer.

Just read the whole thread and if the ideas get implemented, the game will rank among the top 10% on the market. Here is one thing I would love to see.

Trends. I want to be able to set the starting year. Let's say I want to begin in 1973. I make a prog rock album and it sells well. I make another in 1974 and it's huge. By 1975, I'd have to look at changing the musical style, as the world is moving on. I could continue making prog rock forever, but that will drastically decrease my chances of scoring hit singles and filling stadiums. The game could have a few trends built in for every year, each a certain percentage (ex. 1977 - disco 60%, punk 30%, synth pop 10%, also min values for genres that are considered dated or lame). How your latest album fits the trend, together with quality, will determine the hit potential. The genre of your album is decided by calculating the song snippets used when writing. The flip side is that if you made a rock album in 1976 and your fans loved it, they may not love your 1977 disco album. New fans may come on board, but the old fans may leave you (think David Bowie and Let's Dance, or the Bee Gees). As it is now, if you write a song above 75%, you're set. It's too easy to 'design' a great album in the current game. With the trends system, if you write a 90% punk song in 1986, the public may not be interested at all. It may strengthen your core fan base, but not generate a lot of new fans. Do it in 1977 or 1992 and the general public will love it. Do it in 1976, they may not care and you may not sell a lot of albums, but you'll get a trendsetter status and potentially increased media attention when the genre catches on.

With trends in the game, you could do three things (or combine them during your career). - Play the same kind of music forever, never offend your fans but risk losing out in album sales. This would be a safe way to play the game as you can almost count on your core fans, as long as the quality of your records is high enough. Long term effect is low album sales after your genre has lost popularity, but the ability to play medium sized shows (3-5000)indefinitely is almost guaranteed.- Follow the trend. Risk losing fans but generate new ones as your new album tops the charts. You may get lots of hit singles, high album sales when things work out, huge tours when you're in, but a weak fan base. This may have a very bad effect on your later years, but by then you'll be hanging out in the Bahamas with girls or boys half your age.- Be a trendsetter. The moment a music style becomes available, use it. Risk losing fans, but gain prestige and respect by being an innovator. Other band will love you and your songs will be covered often. Your popularity will be boosted when a trendy band covers you.

The above obviously presumes that the game no longer restricts itself to five years. It would become more of a career simulation.

VGA wrote:Trends. I want to be able to set the starting year. Let's say I want to begin in 1973. I make a prog rock album and it sells well. I make another in 1974 and it's huge. By 1975, I'd have to look at changing the musical style, as the world is moving on. I could continue making prog rock forever, but that will drastically decrease my chances of scoring hit singles and filling stadiums. The game could have a few trends built in for every year, each a certain percentage (ex. 1977 - disco 60%, punk 30%, synth pop 10%, also min values for genres that are considered dated or lame). How your latest album fits the trend, together with quality, will determine the hit potential. The genre of your album is decided by calculating the song snippets used when writing. The flip side is that if you made a rock album in 1976 and your fans loved it, they may not love your 1977 disco album. New fans may come on board, but the old fans may leave you (think David Bowie and Let's Dance, or the Bee Gees). As it is now, if you write a song above 75%, you're set. It's too easy to 'design' a great album in the current game. With the trends system, if you write a 90% punk song in 1986, the public may not be interested at all. It may strengthen your core fan base, but not generate a lot of new fans. Do it in 1977 or 1992 and the general public will love it. Do it in 1976, they may not care and you may not sell a lot of albums, but you'll get a trendsetter status and potentially increased media attention when the genre catches on.

Cliffsky already did something like that when he worked on The Movies (another fun simulation game) The five main genres of movies had varying degrees of popularity at different times of the simulation, and you could do exactly what you described. I'm guessing that the reason that's not in this game was a lack of time and staff to get everything he wanted into the game. Please correct me if I'm wrong here!

First off... love the game, detail and concept. Yes I am in a band and play both Bass and six string.

My only complaint so far is whenever I get to screens where you can buy things (Studio time, gear, etc) the mouse slows to a snails crawl. Happens no matter which options I choose (Full screen, mouse speed etc).

yeah well i recently bought the game, and some improvements i think are needed are:

longer game time, 5 years just isnt enough to get far in the business

someway to make the music minigame easier or provide more experience, i found that after i improve my musical skills i come back a couple of days (game time) later and its all gone back to what it used to be, thats very annoying

another thing, when my band finally does get famous, i dont see why motivation drops suddenly and there is nothing i can do to increase motivation apart from interviews, which come along very rarely, some day to day motivation lifter needs to be included

another thing when bands get famous, there always seems to be a downward spiral with at least one band member that is unstoppable.i was playing normally was just about to play at the mega dome and my bass player suddenly becomes incredibly de-motivated and quits the band the day before the gig, no warning and it left me speechless as i just bought a brand new bass guitar for him and he was perfectly happy at the last gig

so yes, someway to stop motivation decreasing at a massive rate and same for the music mini game, either to make losing experience a slower one or making the game easier or even giving more percentage of experience for playing